HITECH Compliance Help for Financial Institutions

Financial institutions that transmit or modify protected health information for covered entities, or store or archive PHI now are covered under the HITECH Act’s strengthened provisions of the HIPAA privacy and security rule.

Many of these institutions are not aware of their increased regulatory responsibilities and new guidelines are available to walk them through the compliance. “This is all about managing risk and to minimize the prospects of a beach,” said Lee Barrett, executive director of the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission. The public relations impact of a breach questions the respect for an organization, he added. Barrett spoke during the Medical Banking Boot Camp at HIMSS11 in Orlando. More news from the HIMSS11 Conference can be found at http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/himss